21-475: Acanthaceae ( / æ k æ n ˈ θ eɪ s iː ˌ aɪ , - s i ˌ i / ) is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs , shrubs , or twining vines; some are epiphytes . Only a few species are distributed in temperate regions. The four main centres of distribution are Indonesia and Malaysia , Africa , Brazil , and Central America . Representatives of
42-557: A family that includes those clades with non-retinaculate fruits and one that excludes them, that still persists to the modern day. Bremekamp , in 1965, presented a classification of Acanthaceae that differed from that of Lindau, for his Acanthaceae excluded genera that lack retinaculate fruits. He placed Nelsonioideae within Scrophulariaceae , classified Thunbergiaceae and Mendonciaceae as distinct families and divided his Acanthaceae into two groups (Acanthoideae and Ruelloideae) based on
63-554: A lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community for extended periods. The continual publication of new data and diverse opinions plays a crucial role in facilitating adjustments and ultimately reaching a consensus over time. The naming of families is codified by various international bodies using the following suffixes: The taxonomic term familia was first used by French botanist Pierre Magnol in his Prodromus historiae generalis plantarum, in quo familiae plantarum per tabulas disponuntur (1689) where he called
84-410: Is a species of shrubs or herbs, of the plant family Acanthaceae , native to Australia, Australasia, and Southeast Asia. It is used as medicine in asthma and rheumatism. The plant grows as a shrub, up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall. It has shallow tap roots and occasionally develops a stilt root . Fruits are kidney-shaped. The species is widespread Southeast Asia, Indochina, Indonesia,
105-737: Is included in Acanthaceae by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group on the basis of molecular phylogenetic studies that show it to be associated with this family. Traditionally the most important part use in Acanthaceae is the leaves and they are used externally for wounds. Some research has indicated that Acanthaceae possess antifungal , cytotoxic , anti-inflammatory , anti-pyretic , antioxidant , insecticidal , hepatoprotective , immunomodulatory , anti-platelet aggregation and anti-viral potential . For instance, Acanthus ilicifolius , whose chemical composition has been heavily researched,
126-668: Is widely used in ethnopharmaceutical applications, including in Indian and Chinese traditional medicine . Various parts of Acanthus ilicifolius have been used to treat asthma , diabetes , leprosy , hepatitis , snake bites , and rheumatoid arthritis . The leaves of Acanthus ebracteatus , noted for their antioxidant properties, are used for making Thai herbal tea in Thailand and Indonesia . Phytochemical reports on family Acanthaceae are glycosides , flavonoids , benzonoids , phenolic compounds , naphthoquinone and triterpenoids . Since
147-532: The Genera Plantarum of George Bentham and Joseph Dalton Hooker this word ordo was used for what now is given the rank of family. Families serve as valuable units for evolutionary, paleontological, and genetic studies due to their relatively greater stability compared to lower taxonomic levels like genera and species. Acanthus ilicifolius Acanthus ilicifolius , commonly known as holly-leaved acanthus , sea holly , and holy mangrove ,
168-617: The World Online accepts 207 genera. Family (biology) Family ( Latin : familia , pl. : familiae ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy . It is classified between order and genus . A family may be divided into subfamilies , which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to
189-515: The corolla, and the ovary is superior and bicarpellated, with axile placentation . The fruit is a two-celled capsule , dehiscing somewhat explosively. In most species, the seeds are attached to a small, hooked stalk (a modified funiculus called a jaculator or a retinaculum) that ejects them from the capsule. This trait is shared by all members of the clade Acanthoideae . A 1995 study of seed expulsion in Acanthaceae used high speed video pictures to show that retinacula propel seeds away from
210-425: The current understanding of Acanthaceae, Acanthaceae s.s. includes only those clades with retinaculate fruits (that is, Acantheae , Barlerieae , Andrographideae , Whitfieldeae, Ruellieae , and Justiceae), while Acanthaceae s.l. includes those clades as well as Thunbergioideae, Nelsonioideae, and Avicennia . Much research, using both molecular data and fossils , has been conducted in recent years regarding
231-409: The dating and distribution of the Acanthaceae and Lamiales lineage, although there still remains some ambiguity. In a 2004 study on the molecular phylogenetic dating of asterid flowering plants, researchers estimated 106 million years (MY) for the stem lineage of Lamiales, 67 MY for the stem lineage of Acanthaceae, and 54 MY for the crown node of Acanthaceae (that is, the age of extant lineages with
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#1732852766584252-542: The family Juglandaceae , but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family— or whether a described family should be acknowledged— is established and decided upon by active taxonomists . There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to
273-530: The family as a rank intermediate between order and genus was introduced by Pierre André Latreille in his Précis des caractères génériques des insectes, disposés dans un ordre naturel (1796). He used families (some of them were not named) in some but not in all his orders of "insects" (which then included all arthropods ). In nineteenth-century works such as the Prodromus of Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and
294-430: The family can be found in nearly every habitat , including dense or open forests , scrublands , wet fields and valleys, sea coast and marine areas, swamps , and mangrove forests. Plants in this family have simple, opposite, decussated leaves with entire (or sometimes toothed, lobed, or spiny) margins, and without stipules . The leaves may contain cystoliths , calcium carbonate concretions, seen as streaks on
315-503: The family). These estimates are older than those based on fossils that can confidently be assigned to Lamiales, which are middle Eocene in age, ca. 48-37 MY. Palynomorphs that definitively show the existence of Acanthaceae are known from the upper Miocene , with the oldest ca. 22 MY. As of 2 December 2021, the Germplasm Resources Information Network accepts 217 genera. As of January 2024, Plants of
336-444: The first comprehensive classification of Acanthaceae in 1847 by Nees , there have been a few major revisions presented since for the whole family. Lindau , in 1895, divided the family into the subfamilies Mendoncioideae, Thunbergioideae , Nelsonioideae , and Acanthoideae . Critically, Mendoncioideae, Thunbergioideae, and Nelsonioideae do not possess retinaculate fruits—and it is this distinction, between classifying Acanthaceae into
357-526: The parent plant when the fruits dehisce, thereby helping the plant gain maximum seed dispersal range. A species well known to temperate gardeners is bear's breeches ( Acanthus mollis ), a herbaceous perennial plant with big leaves and flower spikes up to 2 m tall. Tropical genera familiar to gardeners include Thunbergia and Justicia . Avicennia , a genus of mangrove trees, usually placed in Verbenaceae or in its own family, Avicenniaceae ,
378-463: The presence or absence of cystoliths , articulate stems , monothecate anthers , and colpate pollen . In Scotland and Vollesen's 2000 study, they accepted 221 genera and detailed five major groups within Acanthaceae s.s. (that is, those possessing retinaculate fruits), which is equivalent to Acanthoideae Link sensu Lindau 1895. Out of those 221 genera, they placed 201 of them into seven infrafamilial taxa of Acanthaceae, leaving only 20 unplaced. In
399-567: The seventy-six groups of plants he recognised in his tables families ( familiae ). The concept of rank at that time was not yet settled, and in the preface to the Prodromus Magnol spoke of uniting his families into larger genera , which is far from how the term is used today. In his work Philosophia Botanica published in 1751, Carl Linnaeus employed the term familia to categorize significant plant groups such as trees , herbs , ferns , palms , and so on. Notably, he restricted
420-427: The surface. The flowers are perfect, zygomorphic to nearly actinomorphic , and arranged in an inflorescence that is either a spike , raceme , or cyme . Typically, a colorful bract subtends each flower; in some species, the bract is large and showy. The calyx usually has four or five lobes; the corolla tubular, two-lipped or five-lobed; stamens number either two or four, arranged in pairs and inserted on
441-541: The use of this term solely within the book's morphological section, where he delved into discussions regarding the vegetative and generative aspects of plants. Subsequently, in French botanical publications, from Michel Adanson 's Familles naturelles des plantes (1763) and until the end of the 19th century, the word famille was used as a French equivalent of the Latin ordo (or ordo naturalis ). In zoology ,
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